Plans for the George Obor Harambee Finalized

Harambee venue at Södermalm

Plans for the George Obor harambee scheduled for Saturday 24th March are complete. The harambee will be held at Södermalm at Färgargårdstorget 1, Stockholm. The nearest tube station is Skanstull and, depending on where guests will be coming from, the best option of getting to the venue is to use a “travel planner”.

The Obor Committee is meeting today, Wednesday the 21st of March from 18.00hrs at George’s residence to discuss any pending issues otherwise the harambee will start at 16.00 hrs and is expected to continue until the wee hours of Sunday morning.

Speaking to KSB, Mr. Jared Odero, the Chairperson of the Committee, appealed to Kenyans to turn up at the harambee and help give George a good send off. So far, the response has been very good and the Committee is bankrolling the harambee at a tune of 20.000kr.

The Committee is tasked with mobilizing Kenyans, friends and well-wishers to raise at least 65.000kr for transportation of the body together with Obor’s wife and daughter to Kenya to attend the funeral. The Committee estimates that the cost of transporting the body will be approximately 50.000kr while the estimate for two adult tickets has been placed at 15.000kr.

It is known that it was George’s wish that his body be buried in Kenya. Four days before he passed away, George managed to speak to a group of about ten Kenyans at the hospital in the presence of his wife, time when he indicated that he wanted his remains to be interred in Kenya.

In an emotional and final communication that left some members of the group in tears, George said that his journey had ended abruptly. Pointing out that he was in a difficult situation, he said that whatever would happen to him was the will of God and that no one has control over such circumstances.

It was the last time he was helped to a seat in his hospital room and in order to speak properly, he removed an oxygen tube from his nose and said that he was constantly losing energy. He told the group of Kenyans whom he had mobilized to the hospital (including this writer) that he had discussed everything with his wife Monica about any eventualities.

He said that he was heading towards where everybody is heading to and expressed confidence that the group was capable of granting him his wish to be buried in Kenya. Although he looked frail and despite speaking with great difficulty, George managed to address the group for about five minutes before saying that he was tired and needed to go back to bed.

Before he was helped back to his bed, George insisted on shaking hands with everybody who had turned up as the group left the room one by one.

It was one of the most moving moments a living person can be subjected to – seeing a frail friend who was on the verge of death making a humble wish while talking with difficulty.

As the group left the room, a member who could not cope with the situation simply broke down in tears while others tried frantically to hold their tears back as a cold blanket of silence engulfed the room. At that point, it was impossible to evade the fact that George was a dying man and that members of the group may have seen him alive for the last time.

It was a Sunday evening and four days later, George passed away after ailing for three months. The Committee is appealing to Kenyans of good will to turn up and help raise funds for the transportation of George’s body to Kenya for burial.